France look good. Likely last 16 v Bosnia/Iran/Nigeria, but then possibly Germany in Q-F - could be interesting.
I wonder if Hodgson will have the balls to make major changes for the final, irrelevant game? He should drop them all, barring Johnson as there's no cover, and give the others a chance to show what they can do. Swansong for Lampard, a nice opportunity for Lambert to start a World Cup game, which will never happen again, a decent look at other options and some experience for a few, too. Forster; Johnson, Jones, Smalling, Shaw; Lampard, Wilshere; Milner, Barkley, Lallana; Lambert.
I'd love to see him play something like this: Hart (c) Johnson Cahill Jones Shaw Wilshere Henderson Sterling Barkley Rooney Sturridge IMO Rooney has actually been better on the left this tournament, he still has licence to roam of course as do all of the 3 behind the no. 9. His assist against Italy came from that position and his goal against Uruguay came when he was roaming out of his central role more after the introduction of Barkley. Waddle summed it up for me on 606 - just because Rooney's (or any other player's) best position is 10 doesn't mean they have to play there if its better for the team that they play elsewhere or not at all. I really don't think Rooney offered anything more against Uruguay in the hole than Sterling did against Italy when he played there.
Yes, I think there are a few players who do not deserve a world cup farewell. Gerrard for all his huff and puff, hasn't exactly matched his performances to his supposed talent. Wouldn't feed his ego any more by giving him one last game. Rooney will probably go next time as he will 32 I think (and still be talking about his potential to develop into a world class player) so he shouldn't feature. Henderson should get a game as he hasn't played so far..... just been on the pitch for 2 games. And try Ben Foster at right-back. Just anybody other than Glen Johnson.
Rooney and Barkley don't appear to work well in the same team as often Rooney keeps taking the ball off Barkley. You will see Barkley pick up the ball and he likes to commit players and run past 2-3, sometimes naively but that's his game, while Rooney will attempt to take control and they aren't working together. We may aswell leave Rooney out and use Lallana from the left and let Barkley have his moment.
Actually I'm inclined to agree with you there Boss, good point. Although the 2 haven't really had much time on the pitch together but I do see what you mean. Even when one moves out wide they both want the same things from the game. Lallana might be better, and it'll let us see how we do with a young, Rooney-less team. As for Johnson and Henderson K-G-N, yes Johnson is a less than ideal international RB but he is the only one in the squad...so I would play him out of sheer necessity. And I went for Henderson because who else in the squad can do that job? Lampard hasn't got the legs, and I wouldn't fancy Milner there. Henderson has actually been alright this tournament in his role and as he may have a future in this team, whereas Milner and Lampard probably don't, I'd like to see him get more minutes at a World Cup under his belt alongside other players who he may be joining in an England team for the following few years.
Huddlefro: Fair point about Henderson. He hasn't been bad as such but I just don't know what he is supposed to do. He's not creative enough to attack and not the best (but not the worst admittedly) ball-winner. Just a bit 'vanilla'. But it hasn't helped that Hodgson took two midfielders who were obviously a long way from being fit in Wilshire and Oxo-Cube. Been a bit of a waste for them.
Aye it has been a bit of a waste for them, if a valuable experience, although I wouldn't mind seeing Wilshere in the last game as long as he's fit. Don't know why we took the Ox, when fit he's a very good option but seeing that he hasn't been used one can only assume that he's not fit enough. But then again who else would you take to fulfil that role? Perhaps it was worth a gamble. On Henderson, I feel his role is to put in the hard defensive yards for Gerrard or Wilshere or whoever he's partnering, and to provide a safe passing option to retain possession. Whether thats actually tackling opposition players, making interceptions, winning defensive headers, covering full backs/centre backs, blocking passing channels, whatever. And when we're in possession he should be sitting deeper, ensuring that he is in the correct position to offer a passing option should there be no forward passes on in the final 3rd. He has to be our Busquets, or Montolivo - the player that lets the Iniestas and the Pirlos of the world focus on their natural game while providing an out-ball that helps retain possession. I think there is far more to the role of the modern defensive midfielder than pure ball-winning, although that is an invaluable skill, and that the position actually takes tremendous awareness and game-reading skills. I agree that he hasn't been all that effective in that during this tournament, indeed he may be more of a box-to-box player who is trying to adapt to different demands for his country.
There does seem to be a need for better youth coaching, just to judge from the quality of the best English players vs. those of other countries. Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard first of all are not at the level of Messi, Neymar, Henry, Xavi, Iniesta, Ronaldo. Also, none of them are very good at key passes, interchanges, and generally working with teammates. Those are not the areas they excel in, except that Gerrard has good touch with long passes. They're all a bit like grown up versions of the bigger stronger kid who is able to beat other kids by themselves. Football is very much a team game, but the aspects of the game requiring close cooperation are those English players don't excel at. If you're talking British rather than English, you get the partial exception which supports the argument. Bale looks like he may be a top level player, but what are his strengths? He can run faster, and score more often from farther away.
How is it that Clint Dempsey puts more effort into photobombing than Gerrard did in either WC match? please log in to view this image
Also I know we're seeing teams excel at this world cup by sitting deep, being aggressive and playing "negative formations" but when they push forward with the ball, they tend to have better ideas, they use the ball better, team mates offer more support and make better runs. Other countries are just (like you mention), better at close cooperation. I see Hodgson has been awarded with two more years, and I know many will feel this is a missed opportunity, if we had a different manager he could plan for the Euro's and has two years to mould the team his way, which is needed as the manager and players don't meet up often, but even then, if we had a better manager, the English players would still all have their natural coaching which (for me) does seem to be the big issue. If our players where coached to a better standard then they would grow up with "pass and move" as their natural belief, rather then skill sets based around speed and strength, which is why when we do find a player who is different (like Hoddle) they stand out as they aren't the typical English (or British footballer). Although someone like Huddlestone would be appreciated more in Italy or Spain, while we prefer Henderson!
Messi was largely useless throughout that game, then popped up and won it. Much like their opener against Bosnia.
Iran were unlucky. But ref seemed to give the balance of decisions to Argentina. Seems they only had to fall over to get a foul, almost like they could get a foul whenever they wanted like Brazil. Also after they scored at the beginning of 4 minutes of extra time, they then blatantly wasted 2 minutes with a substitution to find only about 30 seconds added onto the 4 minutes. Makes you wonder if the only purpose of extra time is to allow the favourites in that particular match to score!
Messi is considered undroppable by Argentina because he can deliver a goal like that just when they need it. Gerrard and Rooney are considered undroppable by England because...Bueller? Bueller?
I don't think that Iran were in a position to moan about slow substitutions in that game, Vim. They'd done exactly the same thing repeatedly when the game was level. Not sure the ref got a lot wrong either, despite Andy Townsend's protestations about things that were correctly called. Zabaleta's supposed foul on Dejagah was a joke, for example. He clearly got the ball.
Germany v Ghana, Boateng v Boateng, brother v brother. I wonder how often that's happened on the international stage?
